Fading
by HPJellicleCat
Summary: This is written for the Area/Song/Couple challenge by NickiForDraco. Neville is in love with Hermione, and has been for a long time, but still, she is so oblivious. And he is fading more and more every day...


**This is written for the Area/Song/Couple challenge by NickiForDraco. **

**Area: Hufflepuff Common room**

**Song: Fading- Decyfer Down**

**Couple: Hermione/Neville**

**I also wanted to ask, in the second paragraph, "besotted by", does that make sense? =S**

**BEWARE! It's really bad. I'm sorry, I know, it's really crap. I just had to get this up and I kind of rushed it. DX**

**Ummm...enjoy? =D**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own the characters, nor do I own the places. =L They belong to JK Rowling. I also do not own the song, it belongs to Decyfer Down. **

He'd always had a thing for her, even though they were complete opposites. Hermione was intelligent, witty and attractive and he was dim, idiotic and not handsome at all. **(A/N: I actually think Neville is awesome, but this is in HIS point of view. Please continue. =D)**

He had started to become besotted by her their first day at Hogwarts. Actually – if you really thought about it – it was before then, because they hadn't even ARRIVED at Hogwarts yet. He'd lost his toad on the train, and she was there, helping him. She wasn't running away or laughing at him, she was AIDING him.

He was stunned. Nobody had ever treated him with anything less than cruelty; other, of course, than his grandmother, who had been strict, but caring all the same.

And even now, when he was so much older, an adult, a teacher, a _man, _he got nervous and tongue-tied around her.

He heard her laugh, high and lovely, like bells chiming in the wind.

"NEVILLE!" she laughed, nudging him playfully on the arm.

He smiled; a slight curl at the corners of his lips. "Yes, Hermione?"

"You weren't listening to a word I said, were you?"

He chuckled softly. "No, sorry. I _am _supposed to be teaching 2nd years right now, and I'm just hoping the Headmaster doesn't mind."

"First of all, honestly Nev, 'The Headmaster'? Haven't we reached the point where we can call him 'Percy' or at least 'Weasley'?" she scoffed, "And second, you very well know he doesn't mind. You overwork yourself. Come on, let's go to the common room and I'll make us some tea."

He smiled. "Which common room?"

"Oh! I'd completely forgotten we didn't have to go to Gryffindor anymore! Well...I've always wondered what the Hufflepuff common room looked like..."

"Hufflepuff it is, then!"

He stood and took her hand, guiding her to the secret entrance.

Gosh, he was going to miss her when she left this afternoon. He was so lonely. And she was the only one who really visited him. Sometimes Luna came. Sometimes Harry. Sometimes Ron. But not all too often.

Hermione came every few weeks.

Even still, he felt alone.

_**Wait, it's all that I can take  
And every single day  
A part of my soul is fading**_

"Wow," Hermione said, impressed, "It's actually pretty nice. I think it's slightly smaller than Gryffindor, though."

She looked around, taking in the yellow painted walls and black furniture.

"It's a bit odd, isn't it, that yellow is such a bright and happy colour, while black is dull and sad? They're so different, yet they still fit together and complement each other so well?"

Neville nodded slowly. "I suppose,"

He wasn't really thinking about the yellow and black. He was thinking about analogies.

_They're so different, yet they still fit together._

Much like him and Hermione...

He didn't understand how he'd managed to gain the friendship of someone so utterly perfect.

He couldn't express in words how jealous he was of Ron. _Ron, _who got the woman he'd wanted for so long. _Ron, _who was lucky enough to be married to someone so spectacular, so _high above him._

_**But now, I am letting go somehow  
I'm tackled and I'm bound  
I'm coming out to name I'm fading  
**_

Look what he was reduced to, now; a lonely Herbology professor who hated a man out of pure jealousy.

Ha, he could have laughed at himself if he hadn't been feeling sorry for himself.

"You know, Ronald should really come with me more often." _Speak of the devil... _"He says he thinks you'd prefer if it was just me, but that's nonsense." She laughed, "I mean, honestly, what reason would you have for wanting JUST me to come?"

"Because I love you..." he muttered under his breath.

_**So save me  
From what I've become**_

She turned and grinned at him. "What do you want to drink?"

"Nothing..." he said softly, smiling up at her. _Only you... _he added at the back of his mind.

She smiled. "Okay, I'm going to make myself a tea."

_Gosh, she was so oblivious..._


End file.
